Tag Archives: Deathly FIghter

If 2009 was the year of Larry Jon Wilson, 2010 was the year of Bill Fox and the Gibson Bros. I think I listened to Bill Fox’s two reissued albums — Shelter from the Smoke and Transit Byzantium — more than anything else. (Shelter got a deluxe vinyl reissue, and Scat promises a similar treatment for Transit in 2011.) Go get ‘em. And working on a story about the Gibson Bros. reunion show back in July occupied my brainspace and held my interest for months. I don’t know if CDR has any copies of the Build a Raft reissue left, but if they do, it’s required listening for any Columbus music fan or anyone with a passing interest in twisted, noisy country/blues/rock.

But in terms of new stuff, here’s what I liked this year, starting with national releases and ending with Cowtown LPs.

1. Strand of Oaks – Pope Killdragon
I didn’t immediately hit repeat when I heard this album, but once I came back to it, I never stopped. Who knew a record with songs about John Belushi (from the perspective of Dan Akroyd), a 12-foot man and JFK could be so engrossing. Devastating, too. If you think Tim Showalter is just another pretty-voiced folkie, the layers of synth and Sabbath-like riffs on “Giant’s Despair” prove otherwise. The best way to get Killdragon digitally or on vinyl is through Strand of Oaks’ Kickstarter page.

Playing and collecting various synths is almost like a religion for you. So I’m interested, when it comes to making music, do you sway more towards Suicide or the classic Krauts, because I hear both.

MC: Obviously we listen to a lot of that stuff. Overall, it’s the idea that our music is relaxation. Usually it has more to do with the mindframe that the Kraut stuff is done in. But Suicide? You listen to a lot of those songs and as aggravating as it is, it’s also kind of calming. It has to do with all that. We’re not trained musicians by any means, there’s no guitar solos, and as corny as it sounds, it’s all about the vibe.

I guess the better question then is less about your influence and more about what you are trying to accomplish sonically. How much does the production of hip-hop factor in to what you’re doing?

MC: It’s funny that you ask that. Certain people who we’ve played it for hear that. Hip-hop from skate videos definitely play a role, even if we all have different opinions on what we hear. I met Christian through skateboarding with him eight or nine years ago—the original Deathly Fighter. And back then there was just certain hip-hop that fit well on punk and skate videos. When I create drums, it’s like how the Krauts were able to make something funky without it being funky. So I’m trying to find samples, or drum loops and such, that aren’t exactly funky and then try to make them funky.

To say Deathly Fighter’s Depth Charge sounds like the start of the end of the human condition would be very obvious. To say that you want to have outdoor sex on rubble, and run around with expensive robes and looted items is really obvious.
What would you do with lobsters at Krogers? And would you head to Easton, or the Horseshoe? Or would either be too much work to make a “come-up”?
Do you have guns?

Alot of my friends have been going to the gun shows on the low. They don’t even tell me. Do you have any friends that are stockpiling guns legally?
That is weird thing to think about when you are looking at the price of gas.
When someone tells you aliens will land anytime…do you act like you already knew that?
Do you like Obama or 5 Black Isrealites outside saying he is in the Illumanti more?

One of the most foolish notions that has circulated this year is the idea that bands like Karate Coyate, Wing & Tusk, Ghost Shirt, This is My Suitcase and other indie groups exist as a reaction to the existence of Columbus art-rock, art-damage, shitgaze or whatever moniker is out there.

Bands of those types, that reflect the current climate of national indie rock have always existed. I don’t think Ryan Horns wakes up angry at Chris Lutsko.

Call it the 09 We Want Action.
Hopefully a Tiara emerges.

Just as Columbus has always had musicians that were keeping speed with the rest of the nation, it has also had a long-history of weird drop-outs that accidently have a reoccurring appearence.

Columbus Discount Records along with, but not to be confused with the local bands on the legendary Siltbreeze label, obviously would be the current crop of indigenous strange.

Terribly Empty Pockets – Sexy World Single. That record was like, the best record Flying Nun never put out. I still think it’s a great pop single.

What was motivation behind creating CDR?

At first we were just kind of blindly doing it, like, we knew there was a vacuum that needed to be filled and we had a lot of ideas about Columbus Punk rock as a sort of cultural history or lineage that we felt was being overlooked a lot by dudes in the city and we wanted to not let that happen. Some of that stuff was stuff we could articulate and some of it was just stuff that was intuitive to us. A solid set of ideas on what we were actually trying to pull off didn’t come till a few years ago.

These days, the manifesto is to do anything we can to keep that lineage going and to make records that teenagers and young adults can get their hands on and understand that you really don’t have to go down that right-wing type path. When we were kids, it was punk rock records from Columbus that made us realize that there was an alternative way of life to doing what the sociopaths on the right did. That’s really big underlying goal w/ each record we work on, is to put something into the world that some kid will pick up and understand that it’s a great idea to drop out. As poor people, we really don’t have the power to affect a lot of change, and I’m not allowed to just go behead the Glenn Becks of the world, so you figure out alternative ways to increase the freak power in the universe and you can really do a lot to push back through simple, unassuming things like 7” records.

Why is maintaining and nurturing a Columbus specific culture so crucial to you?

It’s important to have a local infrastructure for every kind of artist, be it a shitty rock and roll band or a painter or a graffiti artist, whatever. Keeping it local, and not really focusing on “making it” on a national level takes steps and people out of the process that make the art bad or plastic or uninspiring. I think local culture is better than big, national culture in almost every case. So it’s important to think about the Cultural History of Columbus rock and roll in a way that is accessible to younger bands so they can find the stuff and can learn from the dudes that owned their city before them. That’s why we’re always digging into the Columbus back catalog, the more stuff from the past that comes out, the better understanding everyone can get of how they fit into it. And it’s important for bands playing in Columbus, OH now to do a little homework and find out about the lineage they are a part of, even if it is only to buck it, that’s good enough. A band that has sort of tapped into that energy and is of Columbus and not just from Columbus is in a way better position to move the people they are playing to, because what is being created belongs to both the audience and the band in a more tangible way. Continue reading →

Some thoughts on the two record breaking events we had this weekend to celebrate the 5 year.

SaturdayMIKE SHIFLET – really interesting stuff. loved the band. he mentioned in our interview with him that he’s hoping to do more shows with a band and i hope he follows up. it’s the making of something really cool.

MIRANDA SOUND – love the new stuff. i like when they play it a little heavier, something they don’t always do…. i think it adds a great extra layer to their music.

EL JESUS DE MAGICO – four years ago if you would have told me that i would have El Jesus play my 5 year party I would have laughed in your face. Things change, and I’m really happy that they did. Set was fucking FIERCE. can’t wait to hear their new album.

BRAINBOW/BLUEPRINT – I had intentionally stayed away from the rehersals because I wanted to experience the show for the first time with the crowd. And put it quite simply, I was stunned. Look, I love music, but this was seriously mind blowing. I felt something that I haven’t felt in a long time.

Instead of Brainbow trying to recreate the music of Blueprint, they approached it from their own point of view. It was Blueprint. It was Brainbow. Neither band sacrificed their integrity or created some sort of Frankenstein rock/rap thing that was only a novelty. I say this with all seriousness, it was epic! When Print said it was their last song, I was heartbroken! I could have used 5 more songs. I didn’t want it to end, and that’s a sign of a good set. Leave us wanting more….

I know it took a lot of time for Print and Brainbow to practice for this event, and I am really thankful that they did. It means so much that they took on this experiment for the 5 year anniversary of the site, and I can’t show my appreciation enough.

PS: Bob Ray Starker and Leslie Jankowski (from Church of the Red Museum) added a horn section in two of the songs. What a nice touch! Oh man. So good.

We did bill this as a one time only thing, and I hope they consider maybe doing it again in the future. Or maybe not. Maybe in this internet age when everything is recorded, Youtubed, and distributed to the world, it’s nice to have a “YOU HAD TO BE THERE” thing. I’d be happy either way.

This was the biggest crowd we’ve ever had for a single donewaiting.com event. It was great.

Update: Youtubed! This is Brainbow/Blueprint performing “Liberated”. Picture quality is dark but it’s the music that matters.

Friday

GRAVE BLANKETS – first time seeing them, won’t be my last. Really good sound. The recorded material they’ve put out there doesn’t do them justice…. they are a great live band.

SINKANE – Ahmed has always been one of my favorite musicians in Columbus and it looks like he’s finally firmed up his vision of Sinkane. Their set was hypnotic. Really cool. And with a solid indie label putting their album out later this year, things are gonna explode! Can’t wait! AHMED I WANT A PICTURE DISC RECORD.

THIS MOMENT IN BLACK HISTORY – haven’t seen them since they opened up for YEah Yeah Yeahs in Cleveland a few years back. Good set, liked the energy. First mosh pit ever at a donewaiting event.

Of all the bands on the current Columbus landscape, Deathly Fighter are the most difficult to pin down. Their first show sounded like an SPK groove on repeat. It was a fairly well-received set considering the number of ideas brought forth (1). Their next show was more distorted and antagonistic, clearing the room at Bourbon St. in about ten minutes. Their recordings explore an assortment of black and white sounds from early Hardcore to Industrial, classic Dub to Dubstep to House, without ever fully committing to a single genre. And then there’s the Deathly Fighter aesthetic, which may be more clearly defined than the music itself, with themes of sadomasochism, violence, cassette culture and DIY appearing in their graphic design and general presence. Though it is unclear exactly where Smoke, Christian and Mike will take Deathly Fighter next, one thing is certain: those looking for the same old rock will be disappointed. In the words of Zachery Allen Starkey, “I like Deathly Fighter”.

Deathly Fighter are playing one of the two Donewaiting.com 5 Year Anniversary Shows. They’ll be at the Friday show at Carabar with Sinkane, Grave Blankets, and This Moment in Black History. For more details, click here.

You know it’s not possible to murder all your enemies no matter how wrong and insignificant they are. You know some people think it’s a chess game. And you know that you could prolly take the chess board and break it. You could smile at the one individual that didn’t realize you could take the game, and throw it into traffic, have a car crash, and cover it up, because that’s how out of line the person that was playing chess with you was, and the universe would reflect your natural selection eventually.

Then you realize that wouldn’t even matter. So you try to mellow on some hippie, meditative shit. Like.. this is natural, and I am completely righteous but obvious solipsism renders it unimportant. It wouldn’t even matter to anyone but the most ardent devotee of truth or your best friend. Well, Deathly Fighter is here with their new bass tape, Nothern Aggression.

Bass, because, at the end of the day you don’t care about sentiment or politics (no one does when it counts or is practically applied, it’s cool) but they still have the concept of sensual and aural natural response. So it’s mellow, on some DJ Krush, ambient, I could fuck or cuddle to this but I am waiting for something to happen when I am really bumping my music. Well, Deathly Fighter is the moment in time when you are trying to cool out, and just enjoy relaxing, and that tense, angst in your head has repetitive lash out. The lash is a treble heavy, guitar riff that is constantly heard throughout in this recording. Like, you are chill, but even the cycle of anger lurks.

At the very least it’s the sound of someone getting a swirly at Outland.
I could be projecting.

At the end of the day, this recording is a weird point between noise, electronic music and industrial.
It’s the sound of content with the underlying aspect of the constant of animosity to everything that walks this earth.

Eh..really it’s just a recording by Smoke, Christian Weiland, and Mike Carney, that was done at the 3CB studios in the heart of downtown Columbus, Ohio, the true panoramic of urban renewal. It was mixed by Patrick Carney, Ike Turner’s drummer, and possessor of the cabal’s instinct.

Deathly Fighter is celebrating the release of their tape on Saturday at Cafe Bourbon Street in Columbus Ohio. Unholy Two, who knows the girl that tries to high-post is a cutter, and Swamp Leather, who doesn’t know what to make of either group but feels they fit in with both will be playing, as well.
Lookie Here.